Gator Country

Joel,
Good to hear the herd had smoothies at the fruit stand! I've sometimes thought that a really shrewd dad could somehow persuade (or dare) a kid to bite into a black sapote.

I'm dealing with the spoils from yesterday's trip to Dr. Brown's famous Tropical Garden in Valkaria (near Malabar) and a plant sale by several NASA/techie surfers who, having surfed the tropics, came back as palm freaks. Gotta plant them while the non-humid weather lasts.

For what it's worth, a lot of good science, most of it by locals (from places like Florida International University in Miami), is going into Everglades restoration.

If he had room in the Sunday magazine might Joel have written something like this http://thehappysmith.blogspot.com/2006/03/everglades.html

Thanks to Science Tim on the last boodle for giving me a hint as to what I should be wondering about.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=everglades

Remedy for a cold day.

In the cool garden shade it's a humid 83,
My left eye squints but I can't really see,
While inside I collect my day's golden pee.
Give blood tomorrow--for Dr. Hematolo-gee!

Doctors appointment tomorrow
Down in San Antone
We're glad your eye's a bit better
We hope they find out what's going on
But while that sun is high in that Texas sky
Have fun gardening, but you take care
Doctors appointment tomorrow
Dr. Hematolo she'll be there

I hope George Strait doesn't take umbrage.

Several years ago I visited Miami with my family. We decided to get a hotel in North Miami as this had been described to us as the more family-friendly portion of the region. And so, instead of being surrounded by scantily-clad beautiful people, we ended up in a strange land full of short elderly men wearing little caps. We saw so many motionless lizard-skinned bodies at the beach that we might as well have been in the Everglades. (At some point even the most physically fit octogenarian really doesn't look good in a bikini.) We heard a lot of Spanish and Yiddish accents, sometimes in the same individual. Several of the year-round residents kindly included my young son in a marathon bingo game. We visited a very nice buffet that was recommended most highly. Perhaps on a future trip we will be a little more adventurous. We may visit some of those alligator infested wetlands. Or, if we are really feeling brave, we might actually venture into South Miami.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, gators! That's good eatin'. Tastes like chicken.

(I actually had some sort of gator hors d'oevre at Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach, and it was delicious--and really did taste kinda like chicken.)

Or then there is the catfish restaurant in south Georgia where, instead of eating gators, you feed the gators off the back deck your dinner scraps.

We had just visted Monterey Bay Aquarium and we had somehow found out about a fabulous fish restuarant (with blackened salmon to die for) that overlooked the Bay and aquarium. We had ordered the gator appetizer and just about then we heard a loud, booming, familiar voice. Who was several tables away but John Madden!

The gator was good. It did taste like chicken. I do remember my dress--a long-sleeved light-emerald-green velveteen with a defined waist, because as I passed the Madden table of three on my way to the ladies room, Madden looked up and gave me the oogling, approving eye.

Eating gator and Giant John of San Ramon--forever linked in my mind!

And yes, I saw an alligator in Florida on San Marco Island, but it's the attack of the bomber-sized mosquitoes during the drive across Alligator Alley to Miami that I most vividly recall. We four Tymnet McDonnell Douglas conference-goers had stopped at a lookout and left the car doors open for a few minutes. When we left, we had at minimum 100 mosquitoes in the car. We staged an all-out hand-to-stinger assault on those winged devils. It troubled me somewhat to have had to turn in the rental car with midget-sized blood splatter *everywhere*.

I think Florida is the first place I ever heard anyone say "turn west" or "head east." Here in Northern Virginia, everything's so curvy, you can drive north, south, east and west all on one road.

You'd never give directions with, er... directions.

We visited the National Zoo today. It looks much cleaner than it did last year. Little Tai Shan was playing out in the yard and did not dissapoint. And the Reptile House had more geckos than mice. Of special note, however, was the alligator basking in the sun outside the entrance. It was so motionless that my daughter suspected it was, in fact, artificial. Being an informed Achenblog reader I could report with confidence that this was how they really acted. I expounded on the likely evolutionary advantages of this strategy until I suddenly realized my family had, once again, slipped quietly away.
I love family outings.

Remember last year when there was a scathing report on the state of the National Zoo? One of the comments was that there were rodents in the small-mammal house. Can you imagine? Where were they supposed to be?

Another great place to visit in South Florida is the Fruit & Spice park in Homestead:

http://www.fruitandspicepark.org/

TBG - good point about the mice! Yet the Zoo was becoming something of a disgrace. Fortunately they seemed to have turned the corner.

Back to South Florida. I would love to return, but want to avoid both Retirement City or ThongVille. Where can a nice normal suburban family visit? And maybe my family can try it too.

TBG:

You're right about SoFla directions: I'm not a skilled navigator, and other places I've lived I often didn't know where I was. But here, there are major north-south arteries and major east-west arteries, and you're always either going towards Maine or towards Key West, or either towards the beach or away from the beach. Easy.

But Joel is right about driving in Miami. Gridlock, with nobody following basic traffic rules or displaying common courtesy. I was at the Mall of the Americas last year and it was a nightmare. The lines for the light are so long that they go past the next street. Of course nobody leaves a space, they pull right up and block the street. Then the cross street has a green light and they can't go, but they pull right up and honk and yell and curse (multi-lingual cursing). I'm sitting there in my car, a captive of the traffic. I just want everybody to be happy and get along. I end up wishing I could abandon my car and walk the forty-some miles back to my house.

Uh, Padouk,...where exactly is ThongVille? Not that I, uh, would ever want to go there, or anything. GPS coordinates, please.

Mudge,

As I understand it, ThongVille is just opposite BikiniBay. You can't miss it. It is a large are separated into two hemispheres. Just follow the gawkers!!

I'm afraid Florida is just one of those states that have no desire to see. I suppose it is lovely and exciting, and just up there with the best of them, yet it does not pull me, never has. There are plenty of places I desire to see, but may not get that wish either. I hope to visit my state first. The mountains and the coastline. Never been to the mountains, seen some of the coastline. Don't want to drive to do any of this, hope to find someone else to do the driving.

The zoo in North Carolina is nice. I took my grandchildren, and walked through the whole thing. I know I lost twenty pounds that day, and boy, was it hot. One needs some kind of wheels to visit that zoo, too much land. And the alligators do look like luggage, and they don't move. There was so much land, so much walking. Even the kids got tired. But it was a good day. Boy did they sleep good that night. Knocked out.

For comment of 7:34

SCC: "are" s/b "area"

PS: Gawkers can be identified by their very dark sunglasses or, lacking that equipment, their habit of partially covering the eyes feigning a Loomis-like eye-illness.

¡Lo siento!

I was told, some years ago, there was were beaches for nude bathers at both Tahoe and San Diego. Of course, the biggest treat for my husband once we had made the grueling assualt on the series of steep switchbacks that comprise the ascent to the top of Yosemite Falls, was the view two women wearing nothing more than their low-slung cut-off jeans.

I liked the view from the top of the upper falls and if Half Dome; hubby liked the view of their tops and their full domes.

Best views from top are here, at the first link:

http://www.thecaliforniahikingpage.com/yosemite/yosemite/yosemite.html

http://www.waterfallswest.com/display.html?ipic=images%2Fupper-yosemite-falls-3.jpg&ireturn=ca-upper-yosemite-falls.html&ides=Upper+Yosemite+Falls%2C+Yosemite+CA&x=33&y=77

slyness & jack -- and other folks in the Charlotte area... we're planning our summer road trip and I have a couple of questions:

slyness, when you said you'd be gone the 3rd week in August, do you mean the 13th-19th or 20th-26th?

Also.. any interesting but not-too-expensive places for the family to stay in your area? (No, I'm not fishing for a place to stay.)

I know you don't really get to know the hotels in the town you live in, but maybe there's something you do know about.

Thanks! (Boodle Travel Agency)

Isn't boating wonderful? Went to the boatyard today to check on my boat; discovered the yeard hadn't gotten around to sand-blasting the bottom yet (was promised for two weeks ago). Was so depressed we went to the marine supply store and spent $440 on five gallons of barrier coat epoxy (Interlux 2000E, if you're playing the home game), but they didn't have enough of the blue bottom paint so we didn't get that yet. (Was trying to decided between two gallons of the $90/gallon one-year type or two gallons of the $129/gallon possible two-year type.) We can't wait to get the boat launched so we can go nowhere (can't afford the gas, which costs 50 to 80 cents more at marinas than at gas stations, so we'll probably spend the summer lashed to the dock, or, perhaps, occasionally drifting over the bounding main). At least I found my missing left sneaker in the owner's stateroom, where I apparently left it last year. Boating just gets better and better.

Came home in mid-afternoon even more depressed, so I made a gigunda pot of my homemade spaghetti/meat sauce to eat during the week as well as a porkloin with mandarin oranges for dinner. And now, the Sunday night trifecta: West Wing, Sopranos, Grey's Anatomy and the battle to stay awake until 11.

But there was a small triumph: on Saturday in an obscure little antique store/junk shop I found a special edition video of "Tom Corbett, SPace Cadet," that was autographed by two of the actors, Frankie Thomas Jr. (Tom) and Jan Merlin ("Roger Manning"), for $1. Being autographed, it probably has a "true" collector's value of, oh, 15 or 20 cents.

TBG, this one's for you (background on Queens University, from today's Charlotte Observer):

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/columnists/ed_williams/14521295.htm

Cassandra's right about the NC Zoo. It's nice but large - requires lots of walking.

Hubby and I are back tonight from a long weekend in the NC mountains, in celebration of his birthday. I made a reservation at his favorite restaurant in the little village where we stay, but, wouldn't you know, it burned to to ground last Monday morning. Fortunately, we were able to get in at their second restaurant and expressed our sorrow to the owners. They don't know yet if they'll be able to rebuild. The cause of the fire is undetermined; too much was destroyed for a determination to be made.

Mudge - We only encountered the edges of ThongVille during our visit to Miami. One afternoon we decided to "go exploring," a poor idea in any large urban area. Anyway, we piled the kids in the rental car and headed south. We knew we weren't in Suburbia anymore when my daughter asked "Daddy, why are there naked people over there?"

Well, technically they weren't naked, but the thong appeared mandatory for both men and women. We decided we weren't quite hip (nor perky) enough for that area, and headed back north to the safety of big baggie shorts.

Miami seemed a fascinating city, but before we head back down I think we need to do a little more research.

slyness...

Wow! what a great commentary. Just the way you described the school to me a couple of weeks ago. Little G is very interested in seeing the school and some of the others you and other folks mentioned.

Dr.G used to teach at a small women's college in DC that was facing the same problems a few years ago. Unfortunately, they borrowed money from GW Univ, using their valuable DC property as collateral, and defaulted on the loan a couple of years later. Despite GW's promise to keep the campus and the faculty, they didn't and it is now swallowed up as part of GW and nearly all, if not all, the faculty lost their jobs (tenure be damned!). They certainly could have used a Billy Wireman there.

My son's current #1 choice is the one where he was so impressed by the administration when they held an open house. They were friendly and knowledgeable and really listened to every question and comment made. And the open house even itself was so well-run he figures the school must be, too.

My life partner returned this evening from his expedition up to the Daytona Beach area. After work yesterday, he sought refuge, Achenbach-style, at a state park near Deland. He parked the car in the shade, pulled out his sleeping bag, laid it out on the ground, and settled down to relax. Looking over towards the water, he found himself more or less eyeball to eyeball (at some distance) with, you guessed it, a big gator. He had been thinking about napping, but now he thought relaxing with eyes open might be more appropriate. His enthusiasm for the park and the gators was much like Joel's, and he enjoyed today's Rough Draft commensurately.

TBG, we'll be in the NC mountains Aug 17-20, attending a family reunion.

You're right, I don't know much about the hotel accomodations around here. All I do know is based on conferences I've been involved in. We have really enjoyed working with the folks at the center city Hilton, but that won't be cheap. If you want to be uptown, try the Hilton Garden Inn (508 E. 2nd St, 704.347.5972). Our training folks refer people to the Amerisuites (4119 South Stream Blvd, 704.357.8555), off West Tyvola near I-77. Both of these are recent properties and should be okay. Hope this helps...

Haven't been to Miami in years, but my husband was there several years ago to visit the fire department. He had some time and innocently made the trek to South Beach, where he got eyesfull of topless women. At least he told me about it! That trip was just before the Versace murder, and he had been right where it happened.

If it makes people feel better, the current director of FEMA is from the Miami area, and was chief there during Hurricane Andrew, so he knows what needs to be done. Let's see if he gets the support to accomplish it...

RD-finally the boodle turns to something I know a little about, family friendly fun in a Florida city. Head to Tampa, my home for all of 6 months now. No thongs on the St. Pete beaches, great science museum and aquarium in Tampa, gambling at the Seminole Hard Rock (not actually my taste) historic neighborhoods, Busch Gardens, manatee viewing free all winter at the power plant, Pirates in Feb., and you can still move on the roads at least if you make it here in the next year or so.

The National Zoo has gators. They lay around motionless with their snouts wide open right up next to the glass. The kids will tap on the glass only 1 foot away, and still they do nothing. They must be deaf. I think they should call the reptile house the Republican House. It's full of venemous animals with large stomachs with big teeth that pretty much lay around all day and do nothing. The democrats shouldn't feel left out. Just around the corner is where they keep the large cats. That is the area where the zoo post most of the informational signs that blame the bad humans for destroying precious habitats and threaten extinction of species. I have to say that the lions do a great job at laying around, swatting flies with their tails, and looking like victims. Yesterday, I took one of those gator naps. The kind where you wake up, eyes glued shut, the dream still rolling on the back of your eyelids. When I woke up, I had no idea what time it was, or what day it was for that matter. Where was i? How did I get here? However, I got reminded soon enough when I got whacked by an empty plastic water bottle from Baby boy, "Daddy! I'm hungry! Do something!"

...back there at the turn of the 19th to
the 20th century when much of florida was
still viewed as being worthless swampland
it must have been exceptional for any
naturalist of that era to see firsthand...
...the everglades suffered for much of the
20th century from reckless,heedless human
intrusion and scant awareness of the glades as a living system...holding
within it's flow of water a spectrum of
habitat for plants,wildlife and birds...
here in se asia it is still a commonly
held point of view that wetlands,swamps and
coastal mangrove stands are wastelands and
good targets for landfills and other poorly
plotted developement...in fact the new
bangkok international airport is sited on
what was called the cobra swamp...lots of
fill was required to build up a base for
the runways,ramps and terminal buildings...
already there are indications that there
will be water runoff problems for bangkok
and reports of unusual cracking in surfaces
likely due to settling issues...and then
it is proposed to create a new city on the
remaining area not already taken for the
new airport...sad but true...
...one final note...for those who may find
it of interest...a movie with burl ives...
called "WIND ACROSS THE EVERGLADES"...an
obscure 1958 offering that also includes
a young christopher plummer and gypsy rose
lee in the cast...burl ives brings much
color to his role as cottonmouth...the
story has to do with seeing the glades
from a naturalist point of view...which
for that era is a noteworthy departure from
the more common glorification of man versus
nature found in many hollywood renderings.
...if you like burl ives,the florida glades
and can find a copy of it...enjoy...:-)

Pat:
Don't you just love those brief moments when you forget who you are and what your story is? The mind is totally empty. (Fits in with nelson's comment in the previous 'boodle.) That state is the goal of meditation, and it's very difficult to achieve and even harder to sustain (or so I'm told -- I'm not a meditator myself, although I'd like to have the patience and the discipline for it).

Given this phenomenon, it makes sense that we'd forget most of the dreams we have at night and, if there's such a thing as reincarnation, our past lives.

**********

"When I talk about 'we' disappearing I don't mean that we physically disappear. What I mean is that we move out of the area of the brain that has to do with our personality, that has to do with our association to people, our association to places, our association to things and times and events. . . . And the moment we become so involved in that experience that we lose track of ourselves, we lose track of time, that picture is the only picture that's real. And everybody's had that experience. . . . That's the Observer in full effect."

-- Joseph Dispenza, in "What the Bleep Do We Know!?"

**********

[Sorry -- Pat made me do it.]

[Perhaps I earned some credits by not posting a Bleep quote relevant to his question "Where do my thoughts come from?" Because I *could* have done that . . .]

wondering - Thanks for the info! I will look into the Tampa option.

As an expatriate Floridian, I like to spread tales of the general unfitness of Florida for human habitation in a vain attempt to slow the paving of the state.

It is axiomatic that any Floridian body of water large enough to hide an alligator contains one. When we visit my parents who live on the shores of Lake Tarpon in northern Pineapple County, I annoy my wife by spend inordinate amounts of time gator-gawking.

Sometimes they make it too easy by coming right up to the chain link fence. Sometimes they just drift in and around the weeds. One year, my family threw a large party and I took copious video footage of people, especially my dad, acting foolish and intercut it with shots of gators swimming around the lake and set the whole thing to "See You Later Alligator". If it weren't for the copyright issues and fear of being disinherited, I would post it on YouTube in a heartbeat.

RD... Tampa is great! Summer is off-season there (in the entire state!). Last July we rented a huge condo (in a 3-unit building with its own pool with waterfall) across the street from the beach for about $500 for the week.

We took a sleeper train back and forth and rented a car (but flying would be way cheaper). It was a GREAT vacation. Very family friendly and lots of fun, sun and nature.

Good morning, friends. Isn't God good? Oh, I do thank Him so much. It's a good day, and I'm asking God in the name of Jesus, to give you, my friends, your heart's desires, and that in giving you this, you know that the gift is from God, through His son, Jesus. Have a good day, friends, and know that you are loved more than you can imagine by God, through Him that died for all, Christ Jesus.

Florida is defined by the interstates. I-95 is a straight line down from New York. I-75 on the west coast is a direct run from the Rust Belt. Tampa is the nation's southernmost Mid-West city.

The mores, attitiudes, and customs of the two coasts are different enough make them separate countries. Thow in the rather redneck panhandle which is known as LA (lower Alabama) and the Hispanic component (which is also very different in Tampa than in Miami), the possibilities for sidewalk sociology are endless.

Pat,

Check out "Republican Party Reptile" by PJ O'Rourke. Truer words never spoken.

My most recent Florida memories are from the Gulf Coast, Clearwater to be more precise. Thongs were sparse, but adult beverages were in abundance. Not that I partook, you understand.

And I hope I'm not poaching anyone's perogative in noting that Detestable Putrescence is available as a Boodle handle.

Happy Monday, all!

:-)

Gosh, I'd forgotten how gorgeous the sunsets are in N. Fla.! Nothing like this in Amarillo. The sun begins setting around 6:30 p.m., turns off the lights and falls asleep around 8:00 p.m. During that time, everything has a golden-orangish glow about it and even if it hasn't rained, the trees, grass, flowers have shimmering tips. Mother Nature must exist; who else could create this beauty? It did rain here Sunday afternoon. The nice steady kind of rain (no thunder/lightning) with big fat plip-plop drops that come straight down so that you don't have to close the windows. Great time to cozy up with a great book and chocolate bon-bons. It stopped in time for the sun to come back out and then set again. My yard must be a mecca for redbirds (I see flocks of them at one time!) They must have nests in the tree branches that overhang my roof because they fly VERY close to the window, then make a sudden veer upwards towards the top of the house.

Oops, forgot to sign in. The 8:27 was me.

Miami is one of fastest changing places in the world. As I visit the place it seems landmarks change so fast it's easy to become lost and confused. What happened to all those small hotels all along the 79th St Causeway? Now there are hi-rises ... the feel and atmosphere of the place is gone. The idea that one is by the water does not exist any longer, unless you consider a thirteenth floor balcony being by the water. Can a person still toss a fishing line out in the bay? ... not according to the condo rules. Miami is fast losing it's beach resort appeal and soon a person will think of it in terms of a gambling mecca. Rather than boating a beautiful grouper or red snapper on your vacation perhaps you can hit the jackpot on one of the slots ... slot machine expansion is on it's was as fast as high towers are going up along Biscayne Blvd. The traffic is awful, yes, and the population in simply latin and spanish speaking, but one thing seems to be a good thing ... the planning commission just rejected major developers from spreading themselves all about the beautiful Everglades. See the Everglades if you go there, but see it from an airboat where one can get a feel of it ... and spend a night or two in the Keys where, at least for a while, real life still goes on along the water. It beats South Beach by a mile and you can get a drink for half the price.

Only ever been to Florida twice. First time was in the late '60's when the Navy sent me to Key West for six months for training. Key West hadn't really been "discovered" back then. The big excitement seemed to occur in the family quarters areas at the times when the sub tender shipped out for a training cruise (and when it came back). When I went down there, the airport was too small for jets, so we had to fly down there in a 4-engine propjet. Talk about being stuck in a noisy, vibrating cigar tube!!

Second time was 2 summers ago. We had to visit my father-in-law down in Sun City Center to get his medical issues taken care of. An old friend, who also lives there, has to keep his poodle on a leash, lest the 'gator in the small lake behind their house is hungry. Summer down there is even more oppressive than here, at least inland. We did visit Tampa-St. Pete. Don't miss the Salvadore Dali museum there. It's right on the bay.

My husband told me this Florida story about his weekend trip up to Daytona. He had tire problems and was directed to a tire place that turned out to be not a tire place but a mechanic. The guy had some tires lying around. My husband asked if maybe he could pay just to use one of the tires to get his car to the actual tire place, then bring it back (used tire rental--there's a business niche that's not overcrowded). The mechanic looked around his old tires, found one that would fit. Hubby asked how much? The guy said, don't worry about it. My husband was impressed by the unbusinesslike attitude. I told him, it's obvious: you drove north far enough to be in the South.

Joel, love the piece. I sit here, in my Captiva t-shirt pretending that it is summer and I am not in DC and there is a beach just a 5 minute walk away. AND places where you can walk for miles and watch the wildlife, the birds, the deer and, of course, the gators.

BUT, I realize that I am in DC and it is raining a cold rain right now. I also know that Captiva is surrounded by a thousand Rockvilles and 100's of gated communities, each with its own CVS.

At one time, Florida must have been a great place to visit. Now, it is the proud owner of Effing 41. On which, if you had needed to get there today, you shoulda started out yesterday.

In 1987-88, I was stationed at Homestead AFB in South Florida. (I was in the Navy, tho.) Homestead itself was (and probably still is) a dull, sleepy little farm town, but we were close enough to the city that it didn't matter much. The Everglades were also nearby, and the building that I worked in was right at the tip of the lower Keys. The Tiki bar in Isla Morada was a favorite spot after the 3 to 11 shift.

South Beach wasn't really happening back then, as far as I can recall. My favorite beach was on Key Biscayne (which is up in Miami, not 'down in the Keys'. If you go across the Rickenbacker Causeway and then south, all the way to the end, you'll find Cape Florida State Park. Lovely beaches, and not so crowded. Key Largo and Tavernier have some decent spots and are family-friendly.

If you ever happen to find yourself in the Everglades, make sure you're armed with 100% DEET repellent, liberally applied from head to toe. You may want to drink some just to be safe*. Otherwise, you'll be sucked dry by the most vicious, bloodthirsty mosquitos the world has ever known. They are, as Loomis mentioned, comparable to bombers- huge and stout, with none of the wispy legginess of normal mosquitos. They're equipped with diamond-tipped drill bits on their proboscises (I had to look that up) and they don't seem to die when you smack them. Rather, it just infuriates them and makes them drill harder.

Advice from the stupid girl who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt on her first expedition to the swamp...

*Don't drink DEET. Okay!

Wouldn't it be probosci???

:-)

One of the contributing factors to leaving Florida, and there were many, was how bad the bugs were for my wife's very slow to heal skin. Mosquitos and various other biting insects liked her particularly. Since it never freezes, biting insects swarm year-round.

Since leaving Florida, a lot of her bug-induced dermatological problems have gone away. We were in Florida on the band trip a few weeks ago and shortly thereafter I came down with a severe rash across my chest. My doctor suspects scabies, but couldn't find any fresh infestations. Since we had double beds in the Disney owned hotel, my wife thinks the mites may have been in the bedding.

The small critters in Florida can be just as bad as the large lethargic ones.

Pixel!!!!!!!

Yes, you are Navy????

One of my faves is ex-N ... now in the middle of freakin nowhere w/ some crazies in some space-like agency flying things.

Another is in law school.

U guys are all crazy!!! I'm with you in a bar fight.

Word of advice, don't screw with Pixel. (not that she is that way... a fighter or somethin.)

I enjoy some of Dali's work, but not all. Somewhere, many years ago, I saw Dali's painting of his wife, Gala, titled something like "Gala With Her Beating Heart of Rubies". Gala was wearing a white robe (like an angel's) and superimposed over the place where her heart is, he'd painted the shape of a human heart covered with shimmering gems. I was struck by the love he obviously felt for her and tried in vain to find a print in various art stores and museums. No one had ever heard of it, nor could they or I, find it on the computer. Was this a dream?

just got hibisci.

And lovebugs are the most endearing of Florida's insects. As long as you don't drive a vehicle with a paint job you want to maintain.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG068

..."transmogrified..." this describes the look on a transesence's face whenever an adult's request or pronouncement is incongruent with their world at that moment...sorry to go off topic, but the word is perfect.

Delphin Miguel, (since we're talking about Miami...) yes, I'm former Navy, but have never been in a bar fight, so don't know if I have any hidden talents in that area. Been in plenty of bars, though!

The plural of Hibiscus could be hibisci because it ends in "us", but proboscis ends in "is", like penis, the plural of which is not peni.

A plural alternative to proboscises is proboscides, which is a little easier to say, dontcha think?

Back from a short but refreshing getaway in West Va.

Been catching up on the Infinite Boodle and the Rough commentary.

I can't believe that we've gotten this far through a discussion of Florida wildlife without talking about Palmetto bugs (for the city folk) and fire ants (for the country folk).

The cute little green lizards aren't enough of a bother to mention more than in passing.

I suppose that I could add something about the dead Southern Armored Opossums (aka Armadillos) that line the state highways (until a gator or a bear or a panther drags it into the woods).

bc

DM and Pixel...

Get out your 'Plurals Through the Ages' and 'More Plurals Through the Ages' books and look in their indices.

I think the plural of "hibscus" should be "hibiscus", just like "sheep" and "fish". "Hibisci" sounds like fake Latin and hisbiscuses ends in a shower of hissing.

Of course, it's not my call.

I am just a simple boy. I can point and buy and plant or pot. 24 hour garden improvement yesterday for a friend. Coral Hibiscus (as opposed to some fish) in a pot.

Reminds me of my home in Hawaii. Nothing beats a papaya tree or two in the back yard.

Mangos...

What the HELL are we doing here, anyway.

Pixel, all Navy women have hidden talents.

They are not to be triffled with...

I was playing golf with one and the foursome behind us hit a ball onto the fringe of the green while we were putting out. She calmly and without saying a word walked to her bag and hit a beautiful 3 wood back at the offenders who could just watch as the ball sailed straight over their heads.

After the shot, I stepped up to KW who is a strikingly beautiful blonde and mentioned that, with her slight draw, she would probably get a nice roll and will probably also find the water... I suggested that she might have selected the 5 wood, instead. All I got was a rye smile.

Needless to say, we didn't see that foursome again.

Around 1992 I learned Miami had a vulture problem-- they were hanging out on buildings everywhere-- the courthouse was the worst spot for them to congregate.
Unlike what I originally thought, they were NOT waiting for all the retirees in Miami to die, or even in town for a lawyers' convention.

Turned out the big stinkin' garbage heap near Miami was attracting vultures and Miami was an easy bedroom community and a dayclub hangout.

They were trying everything-- noisemakers, etc. One thing they learned was not to actually go up and scare vultures by getting in their faces, because vultures vomit when scared.

Given that vultures would eat dead skunk and similar nice-smelling items, you can imagine how that smells coming right out of a vulture in a nice Miami summer.

I've always wondered if they finally solved the vulture problem, or they simply handed out sunglasses to all of the vultures and told them to "blend in."

I would almost visit Miami just to see the vultures vomit on lawyers. But that's me.

By the way, mice do exist in the small mammal house in the empty cages. I reported them last time I visited. They need to be getting the Geoffrey's cat to work for his dinner.

Wilbrod, I will immediately cease scaring vultures. I guess I can count myself lucky to this point. Thanks for the heads-up.

Wilbrod, thanks for sharing that vulture vomit story with us. Not many blogs would dare to tackle such a subject in an open, frank, honest and mature fashion.

I have to run to the little boy's room and toss my cookies now.

ROTFL...'Mudge, stop, stop! You're gonna get me fired!

Wilbrod, no self-respecting vulture would ever vomit on a lawyer. It's a matter of professional courtesy.

Hibiscus, pronounced Hy-BIS-Kuss

It is actually latin for "Marshmallow"

So, yes hibisci, is right. It might be traced back to the Ibis, which feeds on some types of hibiscus.

An aside: I pity Pat's JAWS machines trying to make this sentence clear. But then maybe it can say "I go by blue goose bus 5 times fast, anyway.

If it wasn't latin... Hibiscurses? Hibiskisses?

(goes back muttering to his dusty bookshelf).

Son of Carl... I can still hope for the 1 time in 100 when professional courtesy fails, no?.

The plural of hibiscus is, indeed, hibuscus, just like sheep, fish, and deer, but unlike wolverine.

I was just saying it [i]could[/i] be because it's latin and ends in 'us'.

Enter the platypus, who breaks every rule in the book; besides her egg-laying, milk-producing, duck-billed anomalies, her plural is platypuses.

... But vultures give us an insight in why Joel Achenbach doesn't like to stay in Miami long, eh?

SCC - :s/hibuscus/hibiscus

I pronounce it HIB-iscus, not HY-biscus, btw. My husband pronounces it HY-biscus just to bug me.

Platypus in the plural can be:

Platypoda (more accurate), platypuses.

Platypi is colloquial, because it's pseudo-latin ending, not the more accurate Greek (Platypodes).

I like the names "tambreet" or "duckmole" myself. Rhymes with more fun words.

Hibiscus, on the other hand, IS Latin. The romans would refer to a bonquet of "hibisci"

Not that we are bound to follow foreign plurals-- after all, look at how we say "two pizzas" and NEVER "two pizze, please".

Apparently some hibiscus fanciers decided all hibiscus is hibiscus, whether many or singular.

However, hibisci and hibiscuses are also found out there. I think I'll stick to calling them all rosemallows. Thank you.

Pixel, note however that the plural for platypus is pronounced PLAT-y-puthes.

This is due to the duck-bill anomaly aforementioned.

Pixel, unfortunately your husband is correct according to the dictionaries.

Anybody pronounce it hi-bisk-us, to almost rhyme with "hi, frisk us?"

Whazz up with vulture vomit in Miami? We have our own gross-out version here in San Antonio: grackle poop.

Wilbrod, the discussion of vultures also probably gives us an insight in why Joel doesn't stay long in the boodle either. ;)

If I ever go back in time to 4th or 5th century Europe and can't get back I'm going to start a tribe called the Hibiscii. Our mortal enemies will be the Hibiscuses. Oh sure, the Romans as well. What have they ever done for the Hibiscii?

When my extended family traveled to Greece en masse several years ago, my aunt was being served octopus in a restaurant. When the waiter told her it was "Octopothia" (phonetically spelled here; the soft "th" sound usually is spelled with a "d"), she only heard the "pothia" part. Her Americanized Greek being what it was, she knew that meant "feet" but hadn't really caught the rest of what he said.

She exclaimed, "You put your feet it in!?!"

SCC: She exclaimed, "You put your feet in it!?!"

Vultures-there's Florida living vs. Florida visiting in a nutshell. I live in a very urban neighborhood that happens to border slivers of woodland surrounding MacDill AFB and Tampa Bay. While mowing the postage stamp lawn, which grows at a rate only Dave Barry can describe with true justice, I stopped to take note of a snakeskin recently departed from it's now larger owner and watched a couple vultures share a roadkill opossum snack. I hope scenes like this keep the hood from gentrifying too quickly.

O.K., now that I see that poop will make it throught the Wirty Dird filter.

These black birds inhabit San Antone by the thousands. Their sharp and noisy collective screeches are enough to send one to St. Bedlam. They seem to select favored copses of trees as habitat and are hard to dislodge from these sites once they've settled. Their droppings are equally voluminous and as offensive as their persistent caw-caws.

There are clusters of these nuisances near the downtown, and for years they've alighted or nested in an HEB grocery out on our I-10 interstate. Simply, you do not want to be where they are.

At one time I worked with Katie, a very artistic and extremely attractive young blonde. Katie's mom, a heavy-set woman in her late 50s, with long gray hair wrapped in a bun at the top of her head, taught new employees the procedures for handling the various incoming customer calls at the Sears appliance repair center. Flocks of grackles inhabite the trees around the site.

One morning, Katie's mom, lumbering from the parking lot to the building, did not navigate her path successfully from the parking lot to the two-story building's front door. She stepped directly on a fresh release and slipped and fell into the general puddle and slime of repeated droppings. Unfortunately, because of the slip, she broke her leg and had to lay in the grackle goop for quite some time before the ambulance arrived.

As a native Floridian, I can't imagine living anywhere else. Certainly the Northeast US doesn't appeal. It's a nice place to visit...

I don't think there's any state of the contiguous (sp?) 48 that I haven't visited. Haven't been to Alaska or Hawaii, but I plan to soon.

I don't think there's any state I wouldn't visit, if given the opportunity. We live in a great country full of variety and I'm happy and grateful to experience that.

I never realized before that okra was a Hibiscus -- easy to understand,
tho,when you consider it's blossoms. Almost worth growing just to admire,
and you get those super nutritious little pods to munch on as you wander
around your garden.

The only poop story I have is a non-poop one. Birds frequently perch on my garden statue of Virgin Mary's head, but never poop on her.

I concede on the pronunciation of hibiscus. I really sort of pronounce it - hih BIS cus, not HIB-iscus. But it's hy-BIS-cus (or HY BIS cus) according to this:

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/netdict?hibiscus

PLAT-y-puthes.

HaH! Good one!

As most of you may know, the effort to save, re-save or perhaps restore the Everglades is ongoing, with a combination of state and federal funding (and a federal judge's stern oversight). The latter is in some doubt, inasmuch as Jeb and some of the feds would like to tell the judge that his job is done.

In that case, you non-Floridians may have another attraction to view in a couple of decades: parking lots, roads, housing and commercial developments, from the Atlantic to the Gulf, ON TOP of the preserved Everglades. In my North Florida city, developers of a Walgreen's managed to build over a drainage holding pond, allowing it to function underground, thus sparing us the obligation of seeing a non-developed corner.

Just think of the possibilities.

kindathinker writes:

"...thus sparing us the obligation of seeing a non-developed corner."

Sounds like the house building going on right now in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Pixel.. I think the formal name for Hibiscus is Hellobiscus.

Being the good yankee (d**m yankee, having lived south of MD for twenty something years) husbang, one time my wife asked me to prepare the okra. Not having ever done it before, I asked what to do after I peeled it. After she picked herself up off the floor, she instructed me in the proper method for preparing this relative of the Hibiscus.

SCC: husband

Did anyone notice the heading on the link that Pixel gave us for the definition of hibiscus? I had no idea it was a curse word!

jack, your post brings to mind my Auntie Gladys, a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe and who was probably the inspiration for dumb blonde jokes. Mother had explained to her that in order to thoroughly clean collards, put them in a large net bag and run them through the washing machine's gentle cycle with cold water. Auntie Gladys called back awhile later and asked Mother "Now, how do you get all the detergent off them?"

Speaking of development, Carl Hiaasen had a sad story in yesterday's Miami Herald about Florida's gopher tortoises and how they are being buried alive in their burrows by developers.

Hiaasen: "Gopher tortoises have been around for 60 million years, but the last few decades have been murder. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission classifies these ancient land turtles as a 'species of special concern,' though obviously not special enough to be left in peace."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/14511394.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

My birdbath holds about a gallon of water. I am continually amazed at how dirty the water gets. The birds do use it to bathe, and I have to replace the water daily. I normally turn the bowl over so the water goes over the adjacent Shasta daisies, which will shortly be taller than the birdbath itself. It should be scrubbed, but I haven't figured out how to do that effectively without killing the flowers.

Loomis, I remember the black birds from when I was at St. Mary's Univ. We had this place called "the pecan grove" and we would have to go around it, or carry an umbrella. I think a couple of years after I left they got these cannon to go off every so many minutes to keep the birds from roosting there.

kbertocci,

"There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before."

Robert Lynd

Oh, Nani, and that reminds me to say, we have baby birds in our tree now--mockingbirds and they say "cheep, cheep" all day. The mother and father are both busy bringing them bugs, and after they are fed they get quiet but only for about 45 seconds. Very demanding little babies. We can see their heads sticking out at the top of the nest. Very cute.

And one more thing before I absolutely get back to work for the whole rest of the day:

I am going to Key West for Mother's Day weekend and I'm really happy because I expect to see the Royal Poincianas in bloom--they are so beautiful.

we have baby birds in our yard, too. The kids have been collecting pieces of eggshells from under the trees. So far we have blue, brown with darker spots, white with gray spots, and white. Very cool. They've been lining up the little pieces on the window sill.

Always a good laugh, talking about vomit and poop, and all together. I've laughed so much my side is hurting. Nothing against Florida, but always thought it was hotter than where I live now. Don't want to go where it's hotter.

Mudge, is it possible to manage diabetes with diet and exercise? My dad informed me last week that he has diabetes, but is managing it with diet and exercise. I don't believe him. When I went in his kitchen, I saw two giant boxes of Little Debbie cakes, oatmeal and raisin. I hope I'm not offending you in asking you this.

slyness... we keep a huge tray of water on the floor of our deck that the birds love. We always have several species of birds in it at the same time. Lots of fun to watch through the window.

It gets very dirty too. I think it's because the birds use the "birdbath" the same way we use the "bathroom": it has little to do with the word "bath."

Yes, a bea c, the Battle for the Alamo is long over, but not the "cannon fire" around town. The loud booms around the city do try to rouse the grackles from their perches--but they only bust their ranks and fly away from their favorite trees for a few minutes at a time.

The ol' boom-bust cycle.

Bc, have you reported this miracle to the Catholic church? ;).

From the American Diabetes Association:

http://www.diabetes.org/weightloss-and-exercise.jsp

Losing weight and keeping it off is a real challenge for most people. That's why it's important to begin a weight loss program with the help of your health care team, including, if possible, a dietitian. They can help you find ways to decrease calories but still consume the foods you enjoy. And they can suggest strategies to help you change old habits for new ones. It's important to remember that losing even a relatively small amount of weight can make a real improvement in reducing your risk for diabetes and other serious conditions.

Cassandra, perhaps you can get your father on a ClubPed program?

I worked with a woman, a receptionist for Weight Watchers, when I was a meeting room leader. She was either diabetic or pre-diabetic. She followed the Weight Watchers exercise guidelines, lost about 100 pounds (and kept it off for about 10-15 years) and was able to dispense with her medications.

Weight loss and exercise help tremendously, but people do vary. Best to have your dad consult his physician. Perhaps Mudge can share some light on Type II, adult-onset, and weight loss and exercise?

Yes, TBG, the birds use my birdbath for all functions! It takes a strong stomach to deal with the outcome. Thank heavens I'm a mother and can handle it...

OK, now it's time for a duck joke.
Q: Why don't baby ducks lay etts?
A: Because their quacks are too small.

Pat: Boooo-o-o-o.

TBG, you're really on today!

Not only is hibiscus apparently a curse word, it's also palindromic:

!#+#!

(from the Greek, "ζϠϴϠζ" )

---
I have to freshen the water in my birdbath daily. Otherwise, it will turn into beer. The crows like to drop chunks of bread into the water, which starts the fermentation process, similar to the technique used by the ancient Egyptians. Then the crows start drinking, get all gooned up and raise hell in the massive oak tree that towers over our house. At that point, all the humans have to go inside or risk being pooped on.

Crows are very, very smart. We don't have quite so many since Alexandria decided to poison them a few years ago. West Nile has also taken a toll.

We still have migrant birds coming through on the Atlantic coast, south of Cape Canaveral. It was fun watching them during a busy plant sale on Merritt Island in the backyard of a local surfer/techie/palm enthusiast who runs a successful surfing website. There is a substantial tendency for locally-reared surfers to be techies (NASA, etc.) and they go to Costa Rica and are dazzled by the palms, not to mention the bromelads and orchids. So you can easily obtain locally-grown bromeliads and orchids from people like the retired school superintendant who grows bamboos, bromeliads, ti plants, and multi-colored crotons. His garden is so multicolored, it's a bit disorienting. Bromeliads are wonderful--you plop them under an oak and they grow and, in a year or two, have pups. No fertilizer, no irrigation.

The world's supply of caladium bulbs comes from muck farms not far from Sebring. Check Google Earth south of big Lake Istokpoga. I'm pretty certain, based on flying over the area, that the red-looking fields are caladiums, seen from space.

slyness, that's why I no longer use a birdbath. I run the water sprinkler instead. There's a place in my driveway where the concrete is broken, leaving a circular hole about 6-7 inches wide and it's filled with red clay. Watching the birds "bathe" in the clay is quite a show. Dirt and feathers fly! Then they hop over to the sprinkler to rinse off.

Cassandra, no offense taken; ask me anything, at any time.

As Loomis notes, it is possible in some (maybe even many) cases to "control" diabetes with diet and exercise, but it's impossible to say without knowing the starting point. But basically, the diet part is VERY strict--so the Little Debbies are probably out (maybe he only eats one a day, which might be OK). The first question is how much overweight your father is--if it's a lot, then that means he has a LOT of weight to lose. But they say a weight loss of about 10 to 20 pounds will drop your blood sugar about 10 points.

Second, what are his daily blood sugar levels? If he isn't testing himself, then he really doesn't know if he's controlling it or not. He should (at minimum) be testing once a day, first thing in the morning before eating anything, and the number ought to be below about 160 or so (doctors seem to vary), but something in the range of 120-130 is better.

Every 3 months he needs what is called an A1C (a-one-cee) test, which measures your sugar level over the preceding 90 days. You can buy a test kit over-the-counter for about $20. It's a fairly simple needle-stick thing. But I would hope he's seeing a doctor on a regular basis, and the doctor ought to be checking it. (But I'm guessing from your post you suspect he isn't.)

In the "old days" all diabetics had to inject with insulin shots, but they've come quite a long way since then with many other forms of medications, usually pills. There are commonly about six or 8 different meds, and the docs usually have to experiment a little bit getting the right one or the right combination, but it's not too difficult to do. Usually insulk
in shots are for the really hard-core diabetics, and also for people who get diabetes at a very young age/at birth, which is called Type I diabetes. I'm guessing your father only recently got it (or you'd have known long, long ago), so that means he has what I have, "adult onset" diabetes, called Type II.

Most Type IIs when they are diagnosed take a 3-part or 4-part class taught by a certified instructor, who explain diabetes, demonstrates the blood sugar test, goes over the diet system, etc. I'd strongly advise he take this class, and that you (or someone) goes with him.

Diabetes is somewhat confusing, because it can "all over the lot" in how dangerous/risky, difficult it can be, or how relatively minor/"easy." Of course, diabetes always presents risks and things you must watch out for, but for some people (like me) it is almost "invisible" and pretty easy to deal with. For others, it can be emotionally very devastating, and can severely compromise overall health. It can lead to blindness, among other things, as well as infections and other problems. The feet and legs are especially vulnerable.

I'm just guessing, but it sort of sounds like you are afraid your dad is just kind of ignoring his diabetes, or trying (not very hard) to treat it himeself. And if so, you are right to be worried. This isn't the place for me to be asking lots of questions (like how old he is, his weight, general diet and health, etc.)--and anyway I'm not a doctor, I only played one on television (I was Dr. Brent Curmudgeon on "The Young and the Turgid."). (Oh, and there was that one time in fourth grade with Debbie H------.)

But you sound worried, and you probably should be.

If a city decides to poison its crows, do they go around with big wheelbarrows collecting the dead birds? That sounds gross.

I went to Florida in August once - Disneyworld. That is in Florida, isn't it? What I remember most is walking around the first day, wondering why there were giant grates in the middle of the streets. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the thunder and lightning started in, and then the clouds opened up. The purpose of the grates became immediately clear - it looked like a giant bathtub with the plug just pulled. We don't get rain like that here in Northern California (these past 4 months notwithstanding!). And don't get me started on the humidity - no wonder the aligators don't move.

Oh, and one other thing, Cassandra. The reason why "dieting and exercise" is a lousy way to control diabetes is not that it doesn't work, but that as Loomis says, most people simply can't do it. Hence, your dad probably should be on a med. The "failure rate" for dieting is something on the order of 95 percent, which means your dad probably has a 1-in-20 chance of successfully dieting (and thereby "managing" the diabetes. So yes, "diet and exercise" will work--for the one person in 20 who can sustain it. I sure as hell can't.

Years ago, Philadelphia controlled the pigeon population by spreading alcohol-soaked corn around City Hall. Then they swept up the passed-out birds. Or something like that. It was when Frank Rizzo was police commissioner, and things like that happened.

BTW, The Swamp by Michael Grunwald is looking like a very good job. A notable predecessor was Luther Carter's scholarly "The Florida Experience: land and water policy in a growth state" which covered a bunch of topics that were hot at the time, including the Turkey Point power plant whose strange cooling canals subsequently turned out to be a perfect breeding ground for American crocodiles.

Meanwhile, from here, the northern sky is murky with smoke and I-95 is still closed.

And yes, a sprinkler running in the evening is a bird magnet.

Facing toward the Potomac at the King St. metro station in Alexandria you can see, or at least could see last time I was there, the "Society of Old Crows" building. What's up with that? Just wondering.

Slats-August is why my hurricane evacuation plan is to spend the summer in Minnesota.

A coworker of mine has a wife with diabetes and my own wife has had issues with "borderline" diabetes since pregnancy. His wife was given the "lose weight or die" speech and she dropped a pretty dramatic 40 pounds.

We both think the the rate of diagnosed diabetes in the US is proportional to the availability of oral medication to control it. A lot of diseases seem to work that way. The concern point for high blood pressure seems to have dropped at least ten points in the past decade as there are more blood pressure lowering drugs on the market.

Weight loss is hard, but living with the hassle and risk of diabetes seems even tougher.

But that's the problem and the fallacy, yellojkt--the hassle and the risks AREN'T tougher. The hassle is actually fairly minimal, and the risks exist only as a theoretical "future" event. Sure, I know intellectually what I need to do. But humans don't operate on an intellectual level, which doctors have never seemed to figure out.

And the trouble with the "lose weight or die" speech is that sooner or later you're going to die anyway, and when you've failed miserably over 40 years worth of using every diet known to man, you aren't exactly motivated to try the latest charlatan's diet system that comes down the pike. Which is why none of the diet experts ever talk about track records and success ratios. Sure, they'll trot out somebody who lost 100 pounds--but first he/she is that one-in-20, which they never tell you, and second, I don't want to eat three meals a day at Subway for the rest of my life.

(And at the far end, I have no desire whatsoever to spend an "extra" 10 or 15 years at the end of my life living in a run-down nursing home and babbling with Alzheimer's disease. So I guess you could say I lack motivation, know what I mean?)

Slats,

I laugh at what passes for a heavy rain in the greater DC area. In southeast Florida there is a pervailing wind out of the west. Everyday the sun would evaporate the top foot or so of Lake Okeechobee (which is only 10 feet deep). This moisture would get blown over the West Palm Beach metro area where it would hit the colder drier air following the Gulf Stream north.

About four pm every day, just in time for afternoon rush hour, this meteorological conflict would result is a line of thunderstorm squalls that would dump rain on the region at prodigious rates. It looked and felt like someone was standing on the roof of your car continuously emptying pickle buckets of water on your windshield.

And when it was over the temperature would drop from 90 degrees all the way down to 88 and steam up all the asphalt parking lots into something from the set from a jungle monster movie.

Do I miss Florida? Every chance I get.

How many threads can a visit to the Everglades inspire? too many to keep up with.

My parents live in Vero Beach, Florida. When I went to visit them last year, we went out on a shallow fresh-water marsh in one of those airboats to have a look at the gators.

Wow -- it was early morning, an overcast day, and the marsh waters were so still that the sky was completely mirrored in them. I have some px -- there were anhingas and tons of other birds, islands of grasses and shrubby vegetation -- and gators by the tens.

When the boat's engine was turned off, the silence and beauty were astonishing. As someone who still finds majestic landscapes only in the desert, I found this to be sublime.

But I did hang onto the boat very tightly.

My parents were out in their kayaks last week on the Indian River -- they passed one or two gators, got a bit nervous. Then an eco-tourism boat passed them. The people on the boat said there was a veritable warren of gators downriver.

My parents turned around and got out of the river. this was a few days before their 50th wedding anniversary (Saturday). They wanted to make it.

Dreamer, I liked your post with the quote from Joseph Dispenza.

There is a meditation exercise I have tried, with limited success. After one has calmed one's mind by watching the breath (bringing the mind home is what Sogyal Rinpoche calls this) one then simply observes the thoughts that come up and drift away; don't grasp onto them or judge them -- observe them.

Where do they come from? Where do they go? Do they belong to the one who is observing? If one can observe one's own thoughts, is this not evidence that there is Mind that exists outside thoughts and emotions? Outside what we consider to be "us"?

In Buddhism, there are six senses; the five we know -- tactile, visual audial (sp?), taste and smell.

The sixth one is mental perception; the ability to observe one's "mind."

Loomis, I'm glad to see you back in boodle. I hope your appointment goes well tomorrow; the weather here is the opposite of San Antone -- 58 degrees and rainy. But do we ever need the rain!! As an obsessive gardener with 300 SF of perennials to tend to, rain and cooler weather in mid-spring are to be celebrated.

mudge,

You do have a valid point. Everytime my uncle bites into a greasy hamburger, he says, "Sure this is clogging my arteries, but it's not just the quantity of life, it's the quality."

Although I bet after losing his prostate a few years back, he wishes he got fingered a little more frequently.

I lost thirty pounds four years ago, and twenty have found their way back. They have wised up and going to be a little tougher to shake the next time I get serious about getting rid of them.

Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant, in addition to having lots and lots of crocs, used to have a life-sized T-Rex standing in the middle of the swamp which surrounded the plant. I have no idea who put him there, but it was fitting, somehow. I wonder if he survived the wrath of Andrew?

Mudge, thanks so very much. My dad is seeing a doctor, and he does check his blood sugar, although, how often I don't know. My father has been in denial concerning this disease. He gets really angry when I press him about things concerning what the doctor said or does he need medications. He seems to think that he is okay, and doesn't need anything. It's a nightmare trying to deal with him. He is overweight, a lot, and that's why I worry about him. He does walk three days a week, but the diet is what I'm worried about because I don't think he feels like fixing food anymore, the kind that he needs to eat. He'll just stick something in his mouth, and go on. And he lives alone, which may add to his problem because there is no one to say anything. When I ask, have you eaten, he tells me don't worry about him and food, he'll fix him something. And that's exactly what I'm worried about. He likes snack foods and those Little Debbie cakes, and may not be getting nurtrious food. He's in his late seventies. And I'm thinking he might not want to add another medication to his list. Being alone so much, he could be depressed, but I won't ever know that, because he would rather die than tell me that. And if I suggest such a thing, he would probably throw me out the house. I am working with my community organization to get a diabetes support group started at our center, because diabetes is killing African-Americans real bad. And the children are following in the adult's footsteps. It really is bad, and the complications from the disease are just terrible, with people ending up on dialysis, and lost feet and legs, it's just awful. It breaks my heart, yet I keep thinking if we can get the information out there, and change the thinking on food, we might stand a chance of beating this disease. I have tried numerous organizations trying to get funding, with no luck so far. No one believes the devastation this disease has caused among my people, or they just don't care. Either way it's bad.

Speaking of gaining weight and losing it. When I hit my thirties my metabolism suddenly slowed down and I started gaining weight. With every increase in five pounds I would declare that five more pounds and I get serious about my exercise and diet. When I finally hit 187 and had the definite beginnings of a beer belly I did get serious. At the time, whenever I got home from work I would be so hungry that I would make myself a sandwich. An hour or so later, depending on what I was making for dinner, I would sit down and eat what could basically be called a second dinner. So part one of my serious plan was "one dinner per day". Part two of the plan was to ride my bike a for about an hour or two every day weather permitting (heat and humidity were not acceptable reasons to wimp out). In no time at all I was back down to 165. Well as I approached the end of my thirties my metabolism slowed again. Here's the part that truly amazes everyone I tell it to. When I get home from work I have a snack, usually something healthy like fruits or vegetables, but not always. That's it. And if you don't find that amazing enough, on weekends I eat one meal. Saturday I eat one large meal around noon, and Sunday one large meal around 10am. I currently weigh 155. I no longer ride my bike (it was cutting into my stupid TV habit), But I do go out for three 20 minute walks during the work week at 10am, noon, and 2pm (on some days I go for a fourth walk around 3:30).

Thanks Loomis for your information, and all that commented. I need all the help I can get.

Mudge writes:
Oh, and one other thing, Cassandra. The reason why "dieting and exercise" is a lousy way to control diabetes is not that it doesn't work, but that as Loomis says, most people simply can't do it. Hence, your dad probably should be on a med. The "failure rate" for dieting is something on the order of 95 percent, which means your dad probably has a 1-in-20 chance of successfully dieting (and thereby "managing" the diabetes. So yes, "diet and exercise" will work--for the one person in 20 who can sustain it. I sure as hell can't.
***

I just have to challenge Mudge a bit here. I agree with him that there is tremendous recidivism rate with weight loss--perhaps with rates that exceed recidivism for smoking. But it can be done. And if you fail once, you can pick yourself up again (and again and again) for another try.

It requires determination--I have said over and over again in the WW meetings I conducted that only YOU are the one who can have the "want" for weight loss. If the desire is within you, then you'll lose the weight. If it's your mother or spouse or best friend who is pushing it, it will more than likely *never* happen. The desire must be internalized.

Losing weight is the one of the hardest things I have ever done (ever, ever, ever), if not the hardest--by far surpassing the one class in statistics I had to take as far as my master's degree program. It means you have to exercise near-daily. You have to get up, get moving.

It means you have to prepared when you go shopping and during all meal preparation. It means developing strategies for avoiding failure--and acknowledging when you do fail. It means loving yourself and being kind to yourself and rewarding and celebrating small successes. It perhaps means getting a support person or support group. It means, for some, writing things down. It involves a learning curve--what to eat and what not to eat and in what quantity. It means portion control. It means being slightly hungry some of the time. It involves commitment and time and thought. It means setting goals. It means cooking for health and life and knowing what's in the restaurant food you eat and how it's prepared. It is an education.

It can be done and some people do maintain the weight loss with lots of vigilance. But nothing is more important that good health. Nothing. It may be the hardest thing you have ever done and the most important. But it can be done.

And I would never, ever--in a million years--encourage anyone to give up before they even started.

Interesting turn in the boodle towards weight control (how many calories in a hibiscus, anyway?).

Yellojkt writes: "I lost thirty pounds four years ago, and twenty have found their way back. They have wised up and going to be a little tougher to shake the next time I get serious about getting rid of them."

Amen to that. It's actually quite amazing how tenacious the extra pounds can be.

I also think of Don from I-270 today and wonder how he is doing?

My husband took me to breakfast after my big blood draw this morning (12 vials, some small). There was an article in this morning's paper that said the deCode Icelandic genome project had found a genetic basis for prostate cancer--results showing that prostate cancer impacts Black males at roughly the double the rate of Anglo males. The genome news keeps coming fast and furiously as far as breakthroughs recently.

Also, WHAT you eat and when is a lot of the battle.

I talked to a retired doctor who has a spouse with hypoglycemia/diabetes, and she thought my hypoglycemia might be caused by taking tea in the morning with breakfast, so I'm trying to change my teatime to, well, teatime, and seeing if I do better in the mornings mentally. (Hah).

Cassandra, do you think your father would eat nutritious food if he didn't have to prepare it himself? If he likes pasta and vegetables, you could take him a big batch of pasta salad (cooked sea shells pasta, raw broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, bell pepper and any other raw veggie you think he'd like), enough for a few meals. He wouldnl't have to "cook and you'd feel better knowing he has food and he might just enjoy it. It wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

Frozen bell peppers can be better than the fresh ones, for some reason.

Thinking of Everglades again, one of the more disturbing photos I've seen was in Frank Craighead, Sr.'s book from about 1971. A Park employee was looking at a neat cone-shaped stack of wood. The caption explained that it was wood ready to be burned for charcoal. It had been assembled just before the 1935 Labor Day hurricane (no word on whether the charcoal guy had survived), then the layer of mud applied to limit burning had been washed off in the 1960 hurricane (Donna). It's frightening to think that Americans were still doing such badly paying work so recently. And just as frightening to remember that both hurricanes demolished impressive, centuries-old mangrove forests.

Yours is good advice,Loomis. I can't talk about my dad's weight, because I'm certainly not skinny. And if he's suffering with diabetes, I'll probably face it sometimes in the future, and with my weight problem, it may be sooner than I think. I used to walk every day, rain, sleet, snow, didn't matter. Since I've developed the back problem, no longer walk. It just hurts too bad. And not mindful of what I eat. I, too, love the snacks. I probably need the support group more than anyone.

We don't disagree at all, Loomis. It's just that I don't have the "want." Never have, much, and almost certainly never will. And it ain't just me--I'll bet 70 or 80 percent of the rest of us who need to or "ought" to really don't have it either. So saying that's it's all a question of motivation is both accurate---and pointless.

You might just as well tell me that if I'm properly motivated, I can play NBA basketball. Sure. At 5'4" and 59 years old I'd make a great starting center for the Pistons. All I have to do is train hard and think positive. Right. I have exactly the same chance of playing for the Pistons as I do losing 100 pounds by "diet and exercise."

See, that's the problem with all that motivational stuff: it's crap. It's not WRONG; it's just crap. You can't motivate someone who doesn't want to be motivated.

The other problem with the whole motivation argument is, the speakers throw in hundreds of anecdotes about so-and-so who overcame this obstacle or that problem, or whatever, and went on to win 7 consecutive Tour de France races, climb Mt. Everest, swim the Hellespont, and circle the globe in a balloon. That's all swell-for them, and it's purely anecdoatal, because on a planet of nearly 6 billion people, let's calculate exactly how many of us DIDN'T win the Tour de France, DIDN'T clim Mt. Everest, DIDN'T swim...etc. My guess would be approximately 6 billion minus 1. I'm not a big believer in statistics, but I know crap when I hear it. Anecdotal evidence isn't evidence. It's usually the start of a fairy tale.

The problem is, I want to keep on doing exactly what I AM doing. I don't want to "change my lifestyle." I LIKE my lifestyle just the way it is, thank you very much, Richard Simmons. (Oh, yeah, and YOU'RE a real role model, there, Richard, in your twinky short-shorts. Jeez.) Oh, a little minor tinkering here, a little adjustment there, OK. But nothing major (i.e., nothing likely to work).

And I'm quite happy to pay the price for it. And, I suspect, so are most other people. That doesn't make it right; it only makes it reality. I have no more faith in a faith-based White House than I have in a faith-based dieting regimen.

This is taking us back to our doctor discussion. Everytime I did what my doctor wanted, some other telltale went awry. I lowered my HDL, but then my HDL/LDL level was too high (or low, I forget what was good). When I lost weight after he diagnosed me as "obese" - a BMI of 28 is not obese - he seemed pretty unimpressed because other signs didn't change. I am blessed with good blood pressure or who knows what medication they'd be cramming down me.

We get a little newsletter at work on how to keep healthy, exercise, meditation, avoid stress, etc. If you added up all the time of the activities they recommend, I'd have to quit my job (and boodling) to spend all day staying healthy.

Oh, weight loss. What a discussion for a Monday!

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I gained 65 lbs. Part of that was pregnancy and part of that was the fact that I quit smoking when I found out I was pregnant.

I lost it, but it took me 18 mos of hard work.

Then I started back smoking - and then I quit. I gained 15 lbs. I lost it, but it took me 6 mos - and I started back smoking.

This last time, when I decided to quit smoking I feared the inevitable weight gain but decided to go for a full-on lifestyle change.

I quit junk food, sodas, smoking and drinking (except on special occasions) and I started doing yoga every morning and working out at a free company-provided gym on lunch breaks and after work. So far, it's working. I quit smoking 7 mos again and have only gained 5 lbs - which I am working on as I type this. (I have to increase my weight-training, per our on-site exercise physiologist) I work out on weights 2xs per week and do cardio 3xs per week.

The weekends are my 'off' days.

I quit drinking as much as I used to because it made me want cigarettes. I quit cigarettes for a whole host of reasons, but mostly because they killed my father when he was 46 and I kinda like the idea of seeing my grandkids. My dad never got to meet any of his...

So, I'm definitely a believer in quality over quantity. I think it *can* contain the occasional bacon cheeseburger with extra pickles, but I don't believe it includes an oxygen tank - at least for me.

That's a great testimonial, amo. I've seen articles saying don't try to lose weight AND quit smoking. They want you to pick one or another to die from. There are too many ways to live an unhealthy life. I know i've got several of them covered.

watching your weight is very hard in the US. Foods are just different. I came to the US as an exceedingly skinny 19-yr-old. I had stick legs that made my knees look huge. From September to May, I lived in San Antonio. I drank a lot, and ate at TC's and had pizza delivered to my dorm room all the time. I went home for the summer almost 60lbs heavier than at the beginning of my freshman year. That is a LOT for a short person like me. The people I grew up with would pass me in the street and not recognize me. It was very tough.

As Crumudgeon says, you can't lose weight until you are motivated, and the one thing that motivated me was wearing a wedding dress with a single-digit size. I created my own diet and stuck to it. I ate the exact same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from Monday to Friday. I stuck to about 1600 calories per day. I didn't have much time for exercise, but I quit riding the campus bus and walked to class, to work, to the library, etc. On weekends, I could eat and drink whatever I wanted. It took me 18 months of slow weight loss, and it was VERY tough, but I managed to wear a small wedding dress.

I've been married for nine years, and I've kept the weight off by treating myself to small servings of whatever I crave. I've decided, if I want ice cream and hold off for days, by the time I eat it, I eat the whole tub. Instead, I pull out the container and help myself to a few spoonfuls every now and then, and I'm fine. If I eat out, I sometimes have just a dessert, no main course. Or just an appetizer. I don't say this will work for everyone, but it has worked for me.

If I were to gain weight now, at this age, I don't think I'd be able to do it again.

There's no question that the whole culture in the United States conspires against weight lose, just as the culture conspires against a lot of other things, and it is just as difficult (impossible) to change the culture as it is to "change your lifestyle," especially when there isn't sufficient motivation or numbers. Teen culture is toxic, "street" culture is toxic, Madison Avenue is toxic, Hollywood is toxic, the food industry is toxic, Detroit is toxic, and the oil industry is toxic. Worse, many of them are interlinked, so you can't fight one without the other.

My office is brutal for the un- or semi-motivated. We have a lounge stocked with free chips and pop and about half of the assistants' stations have candies etc out for passersby.

Although not a catholic, for a goal I gave up chips for lent and 10 lbs came off. Of course, those were the "easy" 10 (readers are undoubtedly nodding sagely).

Trumpet fanfare, drum roll.....NEW KIT!

yellojkt -

I quit smoking with the patch, which keeps your metabolism artificially high as you are still getting the nicotine in your system.

Once I came off the patch, I had to do something or I would simply just start piling on the pounds.

I had to get clearance once the nicotine left my system to begin working out in earnest because the patch can raise your heart rate and blood pressure. Once the doctor gave me the green light, I was off and running (literally & figuratively).

Right now, I enjoy the elliptical trainer, but I do the bikes, Stairmaster and treadmill, too. I'm just now getting into weight lifting; I was always worried about being too buff or manly looking but the trainer looks rather feminine and she does this routine so - I'll risk it. LOL

Sorry, Mudge, you will never play for the Detroit (is it?) Pistons. You just don't have the height. One does have to have a good sense of her/his limitations. And sometimes, on the other hand, you just have to challenge them.

You are going to cream me for saying this, Mudge, but I met someone in my life who has inspired me and motivated me during my hard times at Weight Watchers: Mark Wellman. I first met and talked to him when he was in a wheelchair doing a campfire program at Yosemite about bears, and met him again after he scaled Half Dome with his friend Mike Corbett (also met). No one talked Wellman into saying it can't be done--or he couldn't do it.

http://www.nolimitstahoe.com/

Mudge, you don't want to change and are happy with whatever comes your way--so you said. I wouldn't want to persuade you otherwise. You accept it; I accept it. That's your story and you're sticking to it.

But some people are like the almond guys from California's Central Valley: "A can a week is all we ask."

"A pound a week--3500 calories--is all we ask." About 100 pounds in two years.

Cassandra, I tend to think that you reach for race as providing the basis for injustice a little more than is justified -- usually, just plain human indecency, laziness, and stupidity are more than sufficient to explain most injustice. However, you now have an excellent opportunity to use rage against racism for your own health benefit and the benefit of your father! Just Google the CEO of every major food company that produces fattening snack foods that you and your father like. I would bet, given the state of our country, that almost all of those CEO's are white (I didn't say that there was NO racism, only that it isn't the explanation for everything). Print out pictures of those guys and put them by the refrigerator and in the pantry. Every time you go for a snack, consider how much money your snacking is putting into those guys' pockets. Do you really want to make rich white guys richer, by making black people fatter? A little rage may give you the discipline you need to keep to healthy produce grown by local people.

I have often thought that a similar tactic would help young people to resist peer pressure to smoke. Who is it who really WANTS you to smoke? Withered old guys who run the tobacco companies, who make your parents look practically like your brother and sister when it comes to age, values, and interests. As far as they're concerned, teenagers are just wallets on legs; if they can get them hooked on tobacco, then they have free entry to your wallet until the money is gone (i.e., death).

This has been my sociological dabbling for the day.

It's very difficult for a type 2 diabetic to loose weight. For one thing, when they begin dieting and excersize, they will usually gain a few more pounds, which is very discouraging. Me, being a type 1 diabetic can loose weight whenever I want. In fact, the more fast food and junk that I eat, the more weight I lose. A diet rich in low calorie vegetables, such as green beans, carrots and tomatoes (which are essentially mediem calorie vegetables), will have me gain weight. Pasta isn't really good for diabetics, as well as fruits like oranges apples and banannas. These are sort of natures desserts and aren't really good for me. How is this possible? More on this later, I have to catch a train...

Just to "weigh" in with my personal weight loss anecdote...

In college, I played football at 260 lbs (5'11" tall). The team doctor tested everyone for all kinds of parameters, including our 0% body fat weight--my 0% weight was 222 lbs (note that this is way above the supposed "ideal weight" for my height).

After I stopped playing football, my weight began steadily increasing. By 2001 I was well over 400 lbs, and starting to have a hard time getting around (not impossible--I was still running excavations, able to spend the better part of a day swinging a pick or shovel). After my doctor flipped out, and after I was diagnosed with sleep apnia, I decided to go on a diet. I wrote a spreadsheet to monitor my caloric intake and expenditures. In about 9 months (by February 2002) I had lost 100 lbs, and dropped 8 pants sizes (new clothes cost a fortune). This still left me at around 350 lbs.

I've stayed around that weight ever since (based on wearing the same clothes as in 2002--I don't own a scale). While dieting, my eating habits changed somewhat--I tend now to eat a little less and snack a lot less. Most importantly, I switched to diet sodas and tea with artificial sweetner--that saves me 1,000-2,000 calories per day.

Incidentally, the sleep apnia wasn't affected at all.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to the doctor and get yelled at again for being obese. But the thing is, while I'd love to lose more weight, I'm pretty comfortable right now. At this weight, I lift weights for 20 minutes every morning. I can spend 8 hours a day for days on end excavating. This might include walking 1/2 mile each morning across the badlands carrying a chest cooler on my shoulder, dig all day, and walk back in the afternoon (did that for a month in summer 2004). Or walking 15 km across the Peruvian desert looking for fossil whales (fall of 2005). I can't play football anymore in my current condition, but then, I don't have any plans to do so.

So, do I really need to lose more weight? Last visit, even my doctor said "It's strange--you're the healthiest obese person I've ever seen." I admit, I wouldn't mind dropping another 50-100 lbs, and I fully believe I can lose it if I really want to, but starve myself, and exercise to within an inch of my life, for what?

I am still exercising, but my goal now is to increase my stamina, rather than to lose weight. If the weight comes off, fine, but I'm not stressing over it, as long as I don't start to gain again.

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